What to Plant in Texas in September
September in Texas is fall-garden season, not a pause. Across most of the state you can direct-sow cool-season greens, root crops, and legumes as soil…
Gardening in Texas
Everything we have worked out for Texas: what to plant and when, which varieties finish in time, the pests that actually turn up here, and the jobs that pay off month by month. We also cover the rest of the property, from lawns and soil to home care and energy, because a garden rarely stops at the vegetable bed.
The numbers first, because everything else follows from them. Measured at the weather station in Houston, the last spring freeze runs February 4 to March 1 and the first fall freeze runs December 1 to December 19, USDA zones 6a-10a, 7,280 growing degree days in the year.
Heat, not frost, is what shortens the season here: above 86 °F tomato pollen goes sterile, so growers run a spring crop and an autumn one rather than a single long season. Garlic is the awkward one: only 0 weeks below 40 °F, where it needs six to split into cloves. Chill the cloves before planting, or grow a softneck type.
Elsewhere on the property in Texas: the pests that turn up here.
Figures from NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals. A state is not one climate: elevation, a large lake or the coast can move these dates by two weeks either way, so check your own county with the extension service before you spend money.
What to Plant in Texas in October
October in Texas is prime planting territory for cool-season crops across most of the state, because the first fall frost in Gulf Coast areas like…
What to Plant in Texas in November
In Houston and along the Gulf Coast, November still sits ahead of the first fall frost (December 1 to December 19 at IAH), so this is an active window…
What to Plant in Texas in May
By May, frost is a non-issue almost everywhere in Texas, and the question shifts from “is it safe” to “is it too hot already.” Across most of the state…
What to Plant in Texas in March
In March, most of Texas can start setting out warm-season transplants and direct-sowing tender crops, but the timing swings by weeks depending on where…
What to Plant in Texas in June
June in Texas is a heat month, not a frost month. The state’s own USDA hardiness range runs from 6a in the Panhandle to 10a along the Gulf, so “what to…
What to Plant in Texas in July
July in Texas means direct-sowing okra, southern peas, sweet potato slips, and heat-loving amaranth, while transplanting pepper and eggplant seedlings…
What to Plant in Texas in January
January in most of Texas still sits inside the frost window, so the ground stays reserved for cold-hardy crops: garlic, shallots, English peas, and leafy…
What to Plant in Texas in February
In Houston, NOAA’s 30-year climate normals put the last spring frost somewhere between February 4 and March 1.
What to Plant in Texas in December
Texas doesn’t have one December. Along the coast and down into the Rio Grande Valley, gardeners are still tucking garlic into workable soil and picking…